July 13, 2011

Philosophy professor presents work in Spain

James Hamilton, professor of philosophy, presented results of his recent research on conditions of theater reception to the triennial Mediterranean Congress of Aesthetics, July 4-8, in Cartagena, Spain.

The Mediterranean Congress of Aesthetics is an important venue for people working in various philosophical traditions to exchange ideas about methods and results. Hamilton's address, given July 6, concerned how theater spectators recognize characters in and across diverse performances and performance styles. Although focused on getting a philosophically adequate account of the success conditions for character recognition, Hamilton's work also rests on relatively settled hypotheses concerning object and scene recognition that have developed and been highly confirmed over the last decade by cognitive scientists. According to Hamilton, the methods deployed in his work and presentation drew as much attention and discussion at the congress meetings as did his results.

Hamilton's participation at the congress was made possible in part by a K-State Faculty Development Award.